Anniversaries and commemorations come and go daily. Most of us, even the best historians, miss most occasions. If we think of history as events then we are faced with a continually showering in the grains of sand. Nevertheless, we do pick out certain patterns in the remembrance of historical dates. The blog here reminds us of some dates where the local, state, national, and global perspectives entwine.
What Time is It? It is flow of a sandstorm that will on each day compress somewhere into a structure – sandstone, selected and only remembered in the longue durée.
On 27 April 1870, Antonio Guzmán Blanco begins his first term as President of Venezuela.
On 27 April 1895, The historic Spiral Bridge is constructed to carry U.S. 61 over the Mississippi River, at Hastings, Minnesota. The picturesque bridge is one-of-a-kind, and serves the citizens of Hastings for 56 years, until it is demolished in 1951.
On Friday, 27 April 1945, The last German formations withdraw from Finland to Norway. The Lapland War and thus, World War II in Finland, comes to an end and the Raising the Flag on the Three-Country Cairn photograph is taken.
On Friday, 27 April 1945, U.S. Ordnance troops find the coffins of Frederick William I of Prussia, Frederick the Great, Paul von Hindenburg, and his wife.
On Friday, 27 April 1945, The Western Allies flatly reject any offer of surrender by Germany other than unconditional on all fronts.
On Wednesday, 27 April 1960, Togo gains independence from France, with the French-administered United Nations Trust Territory being terminated.
On Sunday, 27 April 1980, The Dominican embassy siege ends with all hostages released and the guerrillas flying to Cuba.
On Thursday, 27 April 2000, Four elderly people, between the ages of 65 to 88, are hospitalised after catching the potentially fatal Legionnaire’s disease at the new Melbourne Aquarium in what became Victoria’s worst outbreak of the disease with possible exposure to up to 10,000 people.
On Thursday, 27 April 2000, In the 2000 Anzac Test Australia defeat New Zealand 52 – 0 at Sydney’s Stadium Australia before a crowd of 26,023
On Tuesday, 27 April 2010, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announces the deferral of the introduction of the proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme until after the end of the current commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol (which ends in 2012), citing a lack of bipartisan support for the proposal and slower progress than expected in terms of global action on climate change.
On Tuesday, 27 April 2010, Standard & Poor’s downgrades Greece’s sovereign credit rating to junk 4 days after the activation of a €45-billion EU–IMF bailout, triggering the decline of stock markets worldwide and of the euro’s value, and furthering a European sovereign debt crisis.
Images Citations in Composite: ID 17208541 © Anhong | Dreamstime.com; ID 35001957 © DiversityStudio1 | Dreamstime.com; ID 156394527 © Gerd Zahn | Dreamstime.com
Neville Buch